States of Existence
by Skylight Sparkle
Summary: As a person grows, they go through many states of existence, and it's never easy. People are going missing in Akari's school, and when she disappears, Taiki, Tagiru and Yuu need to work quickly, or lose her forever. A one-shot Taiki/Akari fic.
1. Taken

**States of Existence**

**Taken**

Akari was exhausted. She hated midterm week at her school, she really did. While there was three unofficial weeks scheduled for midterms, all of her teachers insisted on doing them in the same week. She studied like mad, and she felt like she was about to fall asleep. Nearly everyone was annoying to her right now, even the girls that she considered her friends. It was times like this that she really wished that she could transfer to Taiki's junior high school. It was where she intended on going in the first place, but then her parents insisted that she go to the all-girl's school in the neighbouring town. Her school was a fifteen to twenty minute drive away from her house (her family hadn't moved, she just went to a different school), and on the days when she didn't have after school activities, she could catch an earlier bus, which would allow her to get to Taiki's school to see him before he left. She had his basketball schedule and the things he did regularly embedded in her mind, and always knew when she could visit. Sometimes he would volunteer to help others in different sports, but she was good at tracking him down. His tendency to go off to the DigiQuartz with Tagiru and Yuu sometimes got in the way of her visits, but she understood why it was important for him to go.

She sometimes thought about what it would be like if she did go to the same school as Taiki, Yuu and Tagiru. She was sure that it would be a hell of a lot more interesting than her current school life. She would have been there for their adventures, and she would have been there to take care of Taiki when he got exhausted. He would also be there to give her a hug when she needed it (with a highly amusing blush on his face, but that mostly happened when other people were around), and she really felt like she really needed a hug at the moment. In the very least, if Akari went to the school she expected to go to (how excited she'd been when she first thought that she would be going to the same school as Taiki again), she'd probably get some sort of laugh out of Tagiru and Yuu's antics.

Akari thought about it for a moment. She knew that they had a basketball game that day, so she knew that, odds were, they wouldn't be hunting in the DigiQuartz (though sometimes it happened anyway). She pressed her lips together in thought, wondering if it would be a good idea to go over there and visit. Tagiru would tease Taiki about her presence immensely, always getting amusement out of the way the older boy was so flustered around her. It amused her a little bit too. A year ago, Taiki wouldn't have reacted that way, only stuttering slightly in surprise when she would hug him. Now though, he would turn bright red and stutter quite a bit, sometimes even when she just stood a little too close to him.

It wasn't lost on her though that, never once did he actually deny the accusations of liking her or her being his girlfriend. He would try to change the topic, or just repeat what the person said, sounding stunned, or comment on the teasing itself, but not once did he deny any affection towards her.

It gave her young, teenage heart a little bit of hope.

Akari made her way towards her locker, grinning slightly at the picture inside of it. A few girls asked her about the picture, specifically the cute boys in it. The picture was one of Taiki, Zenjirou, Yuu, Nene, Kiriha and herself all standing together on the beach. They all seemed so happy and relaxed, but her favourite part of the image was of her and Taiki. She jumped onto his back seconds before the picture was taken, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck so that she wouldn't fall, while he held onto her legs to keep her steady, both of them with huge smiles on their faces.

Most people who saw it assumed that it was a picture of her and her boyfriend, and she had to correct them. Most people didn't believe her. She couldn't blame them, because she and Taiki certainly looked a little more than just friendly. It wasn't the only picture in there, there was one of her moment of victory when she demolish a rather stunned looking Kiriha and Zenjirou at a video game, one of her and Nene looking at something in the sky, and one with Zenjirou, Kiriha, Yuu and Taiki trying and failing miserably to set up a tent. The one with all of them was still her favourite, though she had some pictures of just her and Taiki that she really liked, but was a little to shy to put up for other people to see. There was nothing wrong with the pictures, she just knew what people would assume.

A warm blush stained her cheeks and a smile appeared on her face as she glanced at the pictures while getting the books that she'd need to do her homework. When they were younger, she and Taiki hung out with one another all the time without anyone else, but now it felt a little different. If they were just playing video games or doing some other mundane task on their own, things they'd normally do, neither really thought anything about how things were changing between them. It was the times when they would find themselves eating together in both slightly fancier places (or sometimes, just normal restaurants), leaning on each other during movies, sitting a closer together than someone usually did with a friend, and many more small things like that. It felt so different, like there was some sort of spark or charge between them, and it made her want to stay close to him. It was a little strange, but she wasn't scared about the changes happening. Maybe a bit nervous, but not scared.

Akari snapped her locker shut. She made up her mind then and there to go and visit Taiki (and the others). Even if they were busy, she knew that Taiki would take the time to cheer her up. Maybe she would even get a hug out of him, though she knew that she'd only be giving Tagiru more ammunition to tease his mentor with. In the least, Cutemon would cheer her up; she could count on that.

Akari glanced at in them mirror in a another girl's locker as she passed by, and instantly came to a stop as a wave of horror came through her. She looked horrible!

Akari quickly made her way towards the closest bathroom, and peered inside to see if anyone was in there. She found it a little eerie that the room looked completely clean and practically unused at an all girls' school, but she wasn't all that surprised. Lately there were silly rumours that girls were vanishing in the bathrooms. Of course, she thought that they were completely insane, because if something was happening and people were disappearing, surely the administration would have been doing something about it, even if it meant sending them home for a few days to investigate. Not a single teacher uttered a word about it though, so she wasn't that worried about going into a bathroom on her own.

She hummed slightly as she placed her backpack on the counter, opening it and pulling out her brush. She took her hair out of her normal ponytails and started brushing it out, wincing a bit as it pulled a few knots and tangles. She set her brush down, and went in search of her lip-gloss. She didn't wear much makeup yet, but she was starting to wonder if she should. She wondered what Taiki would think about that.

She eyed herself in the mirror, wondering if she should do something different with her hair. Taiki once mentioned that he thought girls who tried to change themselves for boys weren't the brightest people around. With that thought in mind, she took a deep breath and decided to just put it back like normal. If she wanted to change her looks, she'd do it on her own accord.

"_What a beautiful thought."_

She jumped, her brush falling to the floor as she looked around the bathroom, thoroughly alarmed. The fact that it was a male voice in an all girl's school, and not one of one of the teachers or administrators, was the first thing that set off some alarms, but the tone of the voice was what really frightened her.

She took a few steps towards the door.

"_Your heart burns with purity, beauty, and so much of the early stages love for another. It's so sweet."_

Fear spiked through her. That voice was not normal. It was soft, but incredibly creepy. She backed towards the door, pushing against it, but it wouldn't budge.

"_Such a pure heart."_

A glint in the corner of the room caught her eye. She saw a glowing green square in the corner start multiplying, and what looked like dark smoke started to seep out of it. Instantly, everything clicked, and she realized that the rumours about the disappearances were probably true. Of course they were. She should have clued in from what she learned about the DigiQuartz from Taiki, Tagiru and Yuu to piece together what was happening. She wasn't all that surprised either that no one noticed, digimon had an odd way of messing with people's minds.

Akari quickly pulled out her phone and pressed speed-dial one, trying to push the door open in the process. There was no answer the first time, so she hung up quickly and dialed again. Again, no answer, and the darkness was almost in front of her now.

Taking a deep breath, she dialed one last time, and instead of hanging up when it got to his voicemail, she started talking quickly. "Taiki! I need your help! There's a Digi—"

"_Sorry sweetheart, he's not home,"_ the voice said, and a pair of blood red eyes appeared, staring at her. The digimon's clawed hand shot at her, and she let out a scream, dropping her phone to the ground, and her world went black.

...

"I win again!" Tagiru cheered loudly. He grabbed a basketball and tried to spin it on his finger, but ended up dropping it. That still didn't seem to quail his good mood though.

"Basketball's a team sport," Yuu said with a frown while crossing his arms in front of him. "And we only won because of Taiki-san. You're a ball hog, and you almost made us lose because of it."

Tagiru glared at him and said, "You're just jealous because of my mad skills. Right Taiki-san?"

The teenage boy in question didn't even notice that he was addressed. He was sitting on the ground beside his pack, a bottle of water in his hand as he dug through the bag with his other one. Taiki felt like he was going to burn out and collapse like he used to. It was something that he hadn't done in a long time (since the baseball practice when Akari and Tagiru first met), but he was starting to think that it was going to happen again.

"Right Taiki-san?" Tagiru tried again.

"Huh? Sure," he answered distractedly.

"Ha!" Tagiru exclaimed to Yuu, causing the blond to look at him oddly. Anybody, even someone with limited intelligence, should have been able to pick out the fact that Taiki didn't even know what the question was. Then again, he knew that Tagiru really didn't care.

Taiki finally found his phone in his bag and a surprised sound escaped him as he stared at the screen.

"What is it?" Yuu asked curiously.

"Akari called," he said. "Quite a few times in a row, actually. And she left a voicemail." He quickly punched the buttons to access the message, and put the phone to his ear.

Tagiru grinned teasingly at him and said, "Uh-oh Taiki-san, are you in trouble? Did you forget a date with your girlfriend?" Yuu elbowed him in the stomach, frowning as he watched Taiki's face go from curious, to blank, and then anger started to bubble up.

Tagiru noticed this too, and said, "Taiki-san?"

The elder teen shot to his feet, grabbing his bag, and rushed out of the basketball court. Yuu and Tagiru exchanged confused looks before running after him.

"Taiki-san, what's wrong?"

"Something took her. Something took Akari," he said, not slowing down for anything. "She was calling because of a digimon, and it took her. She would have been at school at that point of time."

"Awesome, a digimon hunt!" Tagiru exclaimed, trying to see an upside.

Taiki came to a sudden stop, and the other two almost ran into him. He spun around and glared at Tagiru darkly, saying, "We are going to save Akari. If you're going to treat this like a game, then stay here."

Tagiru was stunned with Taiki's sudden aggression, since he was normally so calm and collected. He didn't know how to deal with it, but he didn't have to think on it much, because Taiki quickly turned and kept running.

"Tagiru," Yuu said, his voice soft. "Taiki-san really cares about Akari-san. More than he admits. Don't take that to offense."

He nodded and they once again rushed after Taiki, catching up to him just outside of the subway station, where he was reading the schedule. He groaned and hit the sign with his hand before he turned to the road, hailing a taxi. He looked back at the others and said, "Come on."

They piled in, splitting the cost of the cab as it took them to Akari's school. If Taiki wasn't in a hurry, he could have easily walked walked the distance without getting really winded, but he was in a hurry, so he wasn't even going to contemplate that.

When they got there, and Taiki walked up to the gate outside of Akari's school and stared up at it.

"Aren't we gonna go in?" Tagiru asked, sounding almost hesitant to speak.

"No," he answered, pulling out his red Xros Loader. He dropped his bag, holding the device in front of him and called out, "Time Shift!"

They moved in to the DigiQuartz, and Taiki instantly noticed how dark and cold it was. He always found the DigiQuartz grim, but never this much. This felt dark, foreboding, and reminded him a lot of the Digital World when Baguramon was in complete power.

They approached the DigiQuartz version of Akari's school, Taiki's attention focused only on the door leading inside.

"I'm not sure you want to go in there."

Looking around, they saw Ryouma, Ren and Airu standing behind them. Beside him, Tagiru bristled and asked, "What are you three doing here?"

"Yeah," Gumdramon agreed as he appeared beside his partner. "This is our hunt."

"We've had tabs on this digimon for days now," Ren said carelessly with a shrug. "If anything, you're barging in on our hunt."

Taiki processed that quickly, and almost instantly felt a very uncommon rage starting to bubble up in him. He took a step towards them, and must have looked angry enough to startle them, since all three took a step away from him. "You knew?" His voice started out dangerously low before rising. "You knew there was a digimon here, and you did nothing?"

"We couldn't make a move on it," Airu said. "It's tricky, so we decided to just observe it."

"Just...can you not feel out dark this thing is? It took my friend! I'm betting she's not the first, am I right?" He watched her face shift into one of surprise. "That's what I thought. This is just a game to you, isn't it?" He suddenly looked defeated. "That's all digimon are to you. I hate to see what it's going to happen to make you all realize what it really means to have a Xros Loader." He shook his head, his determined look appearing once again.

Shoutmon didn't say a word during Taiki's tirade, having appeared as he started, but he moved to Taiki's side, bright blue eyes glaring at the other three Hunters, daring them to contradict his statement. No one spoke, not even Damemon or Gumdramon. The silence was only shattered by an echoing scream coming from the school.

"Akari!" Taiki and Shoutmon exclaimed at the same time, rushing towards the building.

"Who?" Airu asked, her eyes squinting with confusion. She couldn't remember a hunter with that name.

"They're best friends," Yuu said, before he too ran at the building with Damemon at his side, Tagiru and Gumdramon running after them.

Realization passed over Ryouma's face and he said, "I know her. She was the one that SuperStarmon used to get to Taiki-san. She was the one who went with him during the battle with Baguramon."

Ren looked up from his Xros Loader and asked, "So what do you want to do? We know that's a powerful digimon in there."

Ryouma looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "We'll stay. They'll flush it out, and we'll act."

...

Taiki's heart was pounding as he entered the dark building, scanning the hallways for any trouble. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, and Shoutmon didn't try to stop him when he started moving, so he assumed that the coast was clear, for now. He was trying to be silent, because he knew that it wasn't just Akari in this building. Something had to have made her scream.

"Do you know where she was when she was taken?" Shoutmon asked him.

"No," Taiki admitted. "I do know where her locker is though. I guess we can start from there." He sounded frustrated with the idea; because there was no telling if she was even close to her locker when she vanished.

"Gumdramon," Tagiru said suddenly. "Do you think you can try and smell her? Or see if you can smell anything in here?" He desperately wanted to comment on how odd it was that Taiki knew where Akari's locker was in an all-girl's school that boys weren't supposed to be in, but he knew the seriousness of the situation and decided to let it go for now.

"I can try," the blue digimon said encouragingly, and started to sniff the air. After a minute, he started to wander, following a scent up the stairs and down the hall.

Taiki followed the small digimon closely, almost crashing into him when he stopped in front of a closed door.

"I can't smell any digimon, but there are definitely people in there," Gumdramon said, pointing at the door. "More than one."

Taiki pulled on the door, but it wouldn't budge. He angrily kicked at it, though that didn't do any good either.

"Damemon, slice it open, but be careful. For all we know, someone could be right behind it," Yuu said to his partner.

"That would be no good, no good," Damemon said. He moved quickly though, his attack completely destroying the door.

Taiki entered the room first, and immediately stopped, surprise and horror mingling on his features. The others pushed their way in, and were equally as surprised and confused. The desks were pushed together to form larger tables, and each table had an unconscious girl laying on it.

"What's going on?" Tagiru asked, his eyes darting from one girl to the next, looking slightly alarmed.

"They look—" Yuu cut himself off, not wanting to voice the truth about how they all looked dead.

"No," Taiki breathed out, suddenly pushing by them all. He stopped at the farthest table, where an incredibly pale redhead laid. "Akari?" He gently reached out and touched her skin, wincing slightly at how cold it was. "Akari, you need to wake up."

Yuu came over to them, and leaned his ear over her face. He backed up, placed his hand against her cold neck, and after a minute he said, "She's alive."

If Taiki heard him, he didn't acknowledge it. His attention was solely on the girl in front of them. "Please Akari, wake up."

"She won't."

Everyone looked around, trying to figure out where the eerie voice came from. Taiki's eyes darted suspiciously around the room, and he held Akari close to him protectively.

The shadows seemed to warp together, and a tall, menacing figure emerged. It was almost as tall as the room, with fierce glowing red eyes. Most of its features were hidden by the shadows, but it's sharp claws and fangs were still visible, and all of the boys and digimon could feel the darkness rolling off of him.

"Who are you?" Tagiru demanded.

"They call me Akumumon," he said, stepping close to them, his attention focused on Taiki. "Interesting, very interesting. I see now. Your heart is the other side to hers, the matching one."

Taiki stared at him, brows furrowing with confusion, and Shoutmon moved in front of him protectively. The expression on the red dinosaur's face was just daring this Akumumon to make a move.

"You wonder how I know such a thing," Akumumon said, stepping slightly close to them despite Shoutmon's glare. "Their hearts are full of such youth, beauty, purity and love, and that is what sustains me." He looked thoughtful. "Though I prefer the hearts of your female species, I will make an exception for you. All three of you."

"To hell you will," Shoutmon snapped back, glancing at Taiki over his shoulder. "Taiki."

He nodded, holding out his red Xros Loader. "Shoutmon, super-evolve!"

Tagiru, following suit, held out his crimson Xros Loader. "Gumdramon, super-evolve!"

Yuu held out his yellow Xros Loader and called out, "Damemon, super-evolve!"

All three digimon burst into a glowing gold light, their forms shifting.

"Shoutmon, super-evolve to…OmegaShoutmon!"

"Gumdramon, super-evolve to…Arresterdramon!"

"Damemon, super-evolve to…Tsuwamon!"

Taiki picked up Akari with relative ease and said, "We have to move this outside so that no one gets hurt." He nodded to the other unconscious girls.

"He's right, lets go!" Tagiru yelled. All three Digmon tackled the dark monster, and for a second, Tagiru thought that they'd pass right through it. The figure wasn't as much of a shadow as it seemed though, because the four went crashing through the wall and outside.

"We'll come back for them," Yuu nodded to the other girls. "You got her, Taiki-san?"

He secured one hand under Akari's legs, the other on her back, and nodded his head. The three boys moved down the hallway quickly, Tagiru leading the way with Yuu purposely staying behind Taiki, just in case.

The doors to the school blew open with a powerful explosion, causing the glass to shatter. Luckily, they were still up the stairs when it happened. OmegaShoutmon appeared and didn't even give the ruined doors a second look.

"The others are holding him off, including Astamon, Yasyamon and Cho-Hakkaimon. He's not just another digimon that stumbled here by accident, Taiki."

"What do you know about him?" Taiki asked as they made their way out of the building. Tagiru and Yuu ran to their partners, but Taiki moved away from the battle so that Akari wouldn't be physically harmed.

OmegaShoutmon hesitated, and then said, "He's evil. He doesn't just take what he needs to survive. He doesn't stop. Rumour has it that the hearts can be retrieved, but only if he's deleted. I don't know how something like him got here. Well, I don't know how any digimon got here, but it's even stranger in this case. I thought that all those dark digimon were…well, I'll explain later."

Taiki looked down at Akari's pale face, worry and frustration visible on his normally calm face. He took a few deep breaths before saying, "So, if it's hunted, she might as well be dead, since he'll still exist?"

"Yes."

He looked at the digimon almost helplessly. "Can we even delete a digimon here? I know we can in the Digital World, but this place is strange."

"I'm pretty sure I can," OmegaShoutmon said with a nod. "I'm not a normal digimon like the rest."

Taiki was silent before he called out, "Yuu! Tagiru! Come here!"

They both hesitated, but quickly came over once they realized that they didn't need to be at their digimon's side. Taiki stared at them both for a second before saying, "I need you to stay with her. Call your digimon here, you might need them. Don't you dare let anything happen to her, you understand me? If it looks like the others are going to try and hunt Akumumon, stop them, okay?"

"What—" Tagiru started, but Taiki cut him off.

"For once, just listen to me."

Yuu knelt down beside Taiki, and took Akari from his arms, nodding his head silently. Taiki jumped to his feet, look at OmegaShoutmon and said, "Follow me."

He ran towards the battle, but instead of running directly into the fray, Taiki skirted along the edges until he was almost opposite of where the other three hunters were.

"What's he doing?" Tagiru asked with wonder and confusion.

"Better question, where did the King go?" Arresterdramon looked around, trying to see the Digimon King. It wasn't hard to miss him in his golden armour, but he still couldn't locate him.

Taiki knew that he couldn't signal the other three to clear out without drawing Akumumon's attention too, so he hoped that they would be smart enough to get out of the way. "Hey Akumumon! You want my heart? Come and get it!"

"Call me crazy, or dumb, but I don't think that's a good plan," Tagiru said to Yuu.

Akumumon turned from the battle, leaping over the three injured digimon and attacking quickly. Taiki was just able to get out of the way, the blast of dark energy destroying the fence behind him. He dodged again and again, leading the monster away from Airu, Ren and Ryouma. Finally, he saw a glint of gold out of the corner of his eye, and stopped moving. Spinning around to face Akumumon, Taiki yelled, "Now!"

OmegaShoutmon seemed to appear out of nowhere, launching himself at the digimon question. "Beat Slash!"

The dark digimon was thrown backwards, crashing into a nearby wall roughly. He struggled to stand up again, glaring heatedly at the digimon King, and yelled, "Hopeless Pain!"

OmegaShoutmon jumped out of the way, and a split second later, he realized his mistake. By moving, he left Taiki clearly exposed to the attack. He could take it, but as tough as his human partner was, he wasn't made of solid armour.

Taiki wasn't the legendary general of Xros Heart for just sitting back and letting things unfold in front of him. He managed to piece together what was happening, and move out of the way as best as he could in the limited time he had. Still, the attack caught his arm, causing him to lose his balance and flip to the ground, rolling slightly.

Taiki grunted in pain, gritting his teeth to stop from crying out from the rough, awkward landing as he fell on his arm. He pushed himself up quickly, pressing his hand to the deep gash on his right limb to stop the bleeding a bit.

"Taiki!" OmegaShoutmon cried out, landing beside him.

Taiki winced slightly and said, "I'm okay." His eyes focused on Akumumon, and without any hesitation, he said, "Take care of him."

"The general of Xros Heart is going to hunt me? How appropriate, since that girl you care about so much is mine," Akumumon laughed wildly.

"Nobody said anything about hunting," Taiki replied, a dead calm to his voice.

"You want what makes up a person's inner heart?" OmegaShoutmon said. "I'm going to show you why no one has stood up against our burning hearts before. It may just be me in front of you, but I have ever last member of Xros Heart backing me up at all times, and that will never include you. Omega the Fusion!"

A glowing image of Omnimon appeared around OmegaShoutmon's body, and then shot at Akumumon.

Tagiru, Yuu, Ryouma, Ren, Airu and all of their digimon had to cover their eyes as the blindly bright attack slammed into Akumumon. They heard him let out a yell of pain, but only for a split second before the digimon exploded into light.

No circle of data appeared around it, though Taiki didn't know why. Shoutmon never laid the final hit on a digimon, he always let the others do that so he could stay out of the hunt, but he didn't see why Shoutmon could destroy them when no one else could. His attacks didn't seem any different. He shrugged it off, not wanting to rip apart a good thing, even if he didn't understand it.

The light hovered in the air for a second before it broke into small pieces and streaked towards the school, except for one brightly glowing piece. This one instead shot towards Akari, and into her chest.

"They destroyed it," Arresterdramon whispered when he realized that the digimon was not captured, but reduced to pure data. He turned back into Gumdramon and looked on in awe.

Ryouma was close enough to hear his awed words. He glanced over at them and said, "In one hit. That is why he's the digimon King. If I were you, I'd set my bar to a little lower than trying to surpass him." He glanced at his team. "Come on. We don't need to be here."

Tagiru was about to protest as the three started to walk away, Airu glancing back at them as she departed, but Akari started to stir.

"Akari-san?" Yuu asked the girl as she stirred a bit on his lap.

Her amber eyes slowly opened, staring up at Yuu, Damemon, Tagiru and Gumdramon with tired confusion. She slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, with a little help from Gumdramon and Yuu, and said, "What happened?"

"Akari!"

Her attention instantly shifted to Taiki, who slowly approached them with Shoutmon at his side. Her eyes zeroed in on his injured arm, and she gasped. "What happened? Was it that digimon that took people? Are you okay?" She shifted to her knees as she spoke in a hurried voice.

Taiki stared at her as if she was the most complicated puzzle he had ever stumbled across. He blinked once before suddenly dropping to his knees in front of her and hugging her tightly.

Akari was surprised for a second, but she quickly pressed her face into his shoulder and hugging him back, not caring if he got blood on her.

The other two boys looked away in embarrassment (which was a surprise, coming from Tagiru), until Shoutmon said, "Go help those other girls. They're probably waking up and freaking out." They nodded and went to the school while Shoutmon stood guard, staring off in the distance to let his friends have their privacy.

Akari felt something warm and wet on her neck, and moved away so that she could look at Taiki's face. Worry and wonder mixed together in her when she saw the tears silently falling down his cheeks. She'd seen him cry or come close to tears before, even in the Digital World, but definitely not recently. It was slightly unsettling. She pressed a hand to his cheek and whispered, "Taiki?"

"I—I thought you were dead," he managed to get out, visibly upset by the thought. "You were just so cold, you weren't moving, and you wouldn't wake up. I couldn't even think right, and Yuu had to check to make sure you were alive. I thought you were gone, and I've never felt so scared in my life."

Now her own tears built up in her eyes, and she hugged him again, pressing her cheek against his. "I'm here, I'm okay. You saved me, Taiki. You saved me."

They knelt in silence, holding on to one another as if the other would vanish if they let go. Akari looked down, pressing her sleeve against his wound, causing him to hiss in pain. "We need to get you stitches, or have Cutemon look at that."

Taiki drew away from her, staring in awe. "You almost died, but you're worried about me? Akumumon was right about one thing: you definitely have a beautiful heart." He was completely ignoring the fact that he did the same thing on a regular basis when they were in the Digital World.

Akari's cheeks flushed brightly as she stared at his slightly watery, warm grey eyes. She made a split second decision, and without any warning at all, pulled him down to her, pressing her lips to his in a gentle, chaste kiss.

To say he was startled would be an understatement, but he barely hesitated before he kissed her back, holding onto her tightly.

"Did you get them all back?" Shoutmon called out suddenly, presumably to Tagiru and Yuu. He was louder than necessary, trying to signal the embracing couple that their privacy was about to be invaded.

Taiki slowly pulled away from Akari, who stared at him before giggling hysterically. He grinned at her, standing up and pulling her with him. He looked round as Yuu and Tagiru appeared, smiling at them broadly. He didn't think that he could stop smiling, no matter how much his arm throbbed.

"You should probably get that checked, Taiki-san," Yuu said, nodding to his arm.

"Yeah," he said, in a much better mood than before. He looked at Shoutmon and said, "You don't mind switching out for a bit, do you?"

"It's no problem," Shoutmon replied, though from his grin, Taiki knew that he was going to be teased mercilessly about Akari later. Obviously Shoutmon saw what happened, and he was not going to let his friend rest.

Taiki honestly didn't care right now though. He was too happy. "Right. Reload, Cutemon."

…

Arm healed, Taiki led the way back to the real world, Akari carrying a very happy Cutemon, talking to him quietly.

"Where are you going?" Tagiru asked with more than a tint of amusement and teasing to his voice when Taiki started heading in a different direction that definitely did not lead to his house.

His almost viciously-teasing grin wasn't lost on Taiki, who managed to keep himself composed (for the first time in that situation). He knew how much Tagiru loved to see him blush around Akari. Instead, he just gave him an amused stare and said, "You think I'm going to let Akari walk home alone after what just happened?"

Yuu sighed and said, "No wonder most of the girls in our class find you annoying."

"Hey! Take that back!" The two continued to argue as they started walking home, Gumdramon and Damemon following them.

Taiki just shook his head again and turned to Akari, feeling a blush settle on his cheeks again. She smiled almost shyly, and he quickly grasped her hand in his own.

Cutemon seemed to realize what was happening, and said, "I'd like to go back into the Xros Loader now. I want to talk to Dorulumon."

"Sure," Taiki said, holding up his Xros Loader in his free hand.

"I'll see you later Akari, kyu!" In a flash of light, he was back in the red device.

Taiki and Akari walked towards her house hand in hand in silence. It was a comfortable silence, and neither could stop grinning. Halfway there though, Akari stopped, causing Taiki to stop too. He looked down at her curiously, noticing a frown gracing her features, and he asked, "What's wrong?"

"I hate being the damsel in distress," she said while folding her arms in front of her. "I can't believe how stupid I was not to realize it was a digimon!"

Taiki was taken back by her outburst. "It's okay, Akari."

She let out a huff of air and looked at her feet. "I hate being a burden to you."

"What?" He put his hands on her shoulders and she looked up at him. "Are you insane? You're anything but a burden to me. Didn't I tell you that in the Digital World? Remember, just before you cut Lilithmon's face open?" She grinned a bit at that. "That hasn't changed. You're not a burden, because I need you."

Her cheeks turned red and it took every ounce of strength she had not to let out a shrill giggle, though she couldn't stop from smiling broadly. Closing the space between them, she wrapped her arms around his chest and resting her head on his shoulder, hugging him tightly.

If her face was red, Taiki's was probably about the same shade as her hair. His hands hovered awkwardly behind her for a moment before settling on her back and pulling her close.

"Come on," Taiki said, not quite sure how long they were just standing there hugging each other. "It's been a long day for everyone, especially you. Before all this, you were stressing about midterms too, right? It seemed like it when I talked to you yesterday. Akumumon attacking couldn't have helped."

Akari let go of him and took half a step back so she could look up at him. Grinning at his memory, she nodded her head, again trying not to giggle when he, very hesitantly and shyly, took her hand into his again when they started walking. The air felt a little awkward, so she tried to think of something to say. "I was going to come and see you, you know. I had to fix my hair, that's why I was in the bathroom when he caught me."

Taiki stared at her again, tilting his head slightly as he observed her. "You shouldn't worry about stuff like that Akari. I'm always impressed by you, no matter what." He paused thoughtfully. "I won't lie though, your hair looks nice down."

She giggled a bit as he gently tugged at her loose crimson locks, and they once again continued on their walk, neither saying a word and just enjoying their time together.

Taiki glanced down at her again. He never wanted to see her like he had earlier again, but in retrospect, even though he would be teased viciously by Shoutmon (probably all of Xros Heart, for that matter) later, he really wouldn't change a thing.

…

**Notes**

**Note 1: **This is slightly AU in the sense that it could easily fit into Hunters as an adventure we never saw happen, kind of like how there had to have been a story when Akari made a cameo in the 'ghost-hunting' episode (wearing his goggles, of all things). However, I'm thinking of maybe having a series of one-shots based in this universe that are kind of like continuations – all in the same timeline after this – but I'm going to try and make it so that they could fit in with hunters too, like between episodes or after. They might NOT be in chronological order after a while. **This one takes place after the gathering of hunters but before the ghost episode.**

**Note 2:** It doesn't say that Akari went to an all-female school, but I feel it makes sense. Though she only appears in the anime a few times (in Hunters), there is a bit of a feeling that Taiki does interact with her and Zenjirou a little more than it shows, so I figure she's not that far away. She says she only goes to school in the next town, and I think it would have been a little strange for everyone to move away before Hunters, so I figured, maybe her parents sent her to an all-girl's school.

**Note 3: **Akumumon is a completely original digimon, based on the word akumu, which, according to a translator, means something along the lines of nightmare. Now, it doesn't attack dreams or nightmares, but this is kind of a nightmare for Taiki.

**Note 4:** I was playing with the idea that it's possible to actually destroy a digimon if the attacker wanted to, but most of the time they don't push that extra bit to kill it, because then they couldn't hunt it. Also, from reading about it, OmegaShoutmon's "Omega the Fusion" attack is basically supposed to be a super, powerhouse attack, though it was watered down in the anime. Not the case here. Shoutmon is badass, and will be appropriately portrayed as badass.

**Note 5: **For the record, from here out, they are sort of together. Like an extension of the small hints with get in the anime. Taiki is only 14 and Akari's 13 (for right now, I'll probably skip ages as I get going), and this whole thing is new to them, so they're being a little more shy and sweet than anything else. I actually love how embarrassed Taiki gets around her (when others are teasing him). That was a completely new development from the first two arcs of Xros Wars. It does seem to stem to other girls, since he blushed a bit at Mizuki, but it wasn't nearly the same reaction as with Akari. Never Nene or Airu though. Guess he just like redheads (of any shade).

**Note 6: **Last one, I promise. I may take suggestions. It depends on if I like them or not, and if I'm able to weave a story I like in my head.

**Skylights**


	2. Distracted

**States of Existence **

**Distracted**

Akari sat on her bed, her eyes fluttering as she tried desperately to keep them open. Her legs were crossed with her textbook opened on them, and she was trying to study, but it was so hard. All she wanted was sleep, but she needed to catch up on her classwork. She'd been sick all week, barely able to move, let alone get out of bed, so now she was trying to do everything at once. She still wasn't feeling a hundred percent (she was at the awkward stage after getting over being sick where she didn't feel the best, but she wasn't actually sick anymore), and she just wanted to sleep, but she couldn't.

There was a knock at the door of her bedroom, and she called out, "Come in." Wincing a bit as her voice came out as more of a croak.

Her mother peaked in and asked, "Your voice still sounds horrible honey. Do you feel up to a visitor?"

This made her attention rise and she asked, "Who?"

"Taiki. He's waiting downstairs, but he said that if you're too sick, he'll go home."

Her face lit up and she said, "I want to see him. Maybe he can help explain this."

Her mother laughed and said, "I'll send him right up. Fix your shirt sweetie. He's a teenage boy now, he'll certainly notice that you're exposing yourself to the world."

Akari's face turned bright red and she hauled up the front of her tanktop. She was pretty sure that, considering how they were a bit more than friendly lately, he would definitely notice.

A minute later, Taiki came in with a big smile on his face. She grinned back at him and said, "Hey."

Instantly, his expression shifted to a worried one and he said, "Are you sure it's okay to talk? It sounds like it hurts."

"Well that's a nice hello." His worried look didn't vanish, so she said, "It doesn't hurt, it just feels funny. I haven't really spoken in the last week."

"I'm glad you're feeling better," he said. "I don't like when you're sick."

Akari smiled at him slightly and said, "So why are you staying way over there?" She scooted over her bed and patted the mattress next to her.

"As much as I really do like you Akari, you're a bag of germs."

"I am not. I'm not sick anymore. Just tired from being sick. I missed a week of school, and I can't understand this. Please come and help me?" She heard from other girls that, sometimes, a pout and a flutter of the eyes could go a long way at trying to convince a boy to give in, and figured it wouldn't hurt to try. She made sure that her amber eyes held contact with his grey ones and she said, "Please?" She instantly knew that she was successful when she saw his cheeks burn red.

"Okay," he agreed, and she had to giggle at the way he basically squeaked. "I swear, you better not get me sick. The things I do for you."

She laughed as he sat beside her, moving her math book half onto his lap, using it as an excuse to move close to him, something he was suddenly highly aware of.

"A—alright, um, which part are you having trouble with?" he tried to clear his head, trying not to get distracted by his friend. It was really hard though, because he felt the need to keep looking at her. He had no idea why, it wasn't the first time he sat this close to her, or the first time he saw her in pajamas, or anything like that. Maybe he was finally losing it? It was certainly possible.

"This part here," Akari said, pointing at a spot on the page, her hair brushing against his cheek as she moved. He tensed up a bit, suddenly wanting to run his hands through her hair, or something like that, which hung loosely around her shoulders and into her face. "Taiki?"

"Huh? Oh right," he turned back to the page. That sounded creepy even in his head, so he wasn't going to repeat it out loud.

"Are you okay, Taiki?" she asked with worry. "You seem a bit out of it. Are you getting sick?"

"No, no, just a bit distracted," he explained. "Okay, so to do this problem, you need to…"

Akari listened to him explain, finding it much easier to understand him than even her teacher. She thought that he'd distract her a bit, but instead she found herself able to remember things a little more when it came from him. If only she knew how much it was distracting him.

"Oh!" A smile spread on her face. "I get it now!" She took her pencil back from him and tried the next question on her own.

Taiki watched her work, watching her bangs fall into her eyes, and he smiled warmly, his hand instinctively pushing it out of her way.

Akari stopped writing and looked up at him curiously. She tilted her head slightly and said, "What?"

His face burned red and he looked at the ceiling. "Nothing. Was there anything else you were having trouble with?"

She stared at him with a small smile and said, "Yeah." She flipped a few pages. "This here. It looks like Greek or something."

He laughed and said, "It's not that hard. It's pretty simple actually."

She gave him a dry look and said, "Maybe not to a crazy genius who's a year older than me and already did this type of thing last year."

They were still working on her homework together when Akari's mother peeked into the room. She grinned at them and said, "Sorry to interrupt. Taiki, will you be staying for supper?"

"Oh, I—"

Akari turned to her mother and asked, "Actually, I was wondering, I don't feel sick, so do you think maybe I could go somewhere? I really just want to get out of the house. Please mom? I've been stuck here all week. I'm going to go crazy."

Her mother looked hesitant, so Taiki said, "If she wants to go, we won't go far, and I'll bring her back if she starts coughing or anything like that."

The woman smiled, trusting the young man with her daughter's life without question. "Alright, but Akari, I expect you back earlier than normal. Around eight or so. And I should hope that you're going to dress appropriately. Given that you were sick for a week." She turned to leave, before looking back at Akari and, forgetting that Taiki was there for a moment, said, "Oh, and please pull up your shirt and stop exposing yourself to the world."

"Mom!"

The woman looked back around and saw the mortified look on Akari's bright red face, her arms crossed in front of her chest, and Taiki's own face was bright red while he looked at the ceiling. She realized what she said to in front of him and said, "Oh my gosh. I am so—I uh—I'm just going to leave now."

Akari's couldn't meet Taiki's eyes as she shifted uncomfortably and said, "Well, I think I'll just go jump out my window now."

Taiki laughed weakly and said, "We've been working on this for a while. How about you get ready, and I'll wait down stairs and pour bleach in my brain so I won't remember that and no one will have to be embarrassed."

She stood up, her arms crossed in front of her chest in a defensive position. Taiki originally planned on leaving the room quickly, but stopped when he saw her amber eyes tearing up. He stopped and instead moved towards her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "It's okay Akari."

She didn't cry, but she did put her head on his shoulder and took a deep breath. She was able to hold back of tears of humiliation, but she still didn't know what to say to him. Normally, something like that wouldn't have embarrassed her so close to tears, not in front of him, but ever since things started really changing between them, she always found herself a little more self-conscious. Her face was burning red, and she felt truly humiliated.

"Hey, it's okay," He moved his arms around her, rubbing her back gently. "Look, I'll pretend I didn't hear anything. Get ready, we'll go get that ikasumi pasta you like so much. I'll even pay."

Akari back away a bit, staring into his eyes for a moment before a smile appeared on her face and she said, "Thank you."

...

Akari's mother seemed incredibly embarrassed as Taiki waited downstairs, hovering by the front door. She refused to meet his gaze, and even if she did look in his direction, he spend most of his time staring at his sneakers, so it wouldn't have mattered.

Finally, he heard Akari come down the stairs and looked up. She stood in front of her mother and asked, "Does this meet your approval?" She wore a dark purple, long sleeved shirt that was slightly off of her shoulders and a pair of pale blue jeans. Her voice sounded slightly more scathing than normal, especially since her voice was still rough.

"Yes," her mother said. She walked over and pressed some money into Akari's hand. "Here. Go get something to eat. Something good, not bad for you. Have fun."

"Thanks mom," she said before turning to Taiki. "Lets go. I'm tired of being stuck in the house."

Taiki grinned as she grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the house. She moved so that they were holding hands instead of her dragging him. Taiki blushed a bit, but squeezed back and said, "Akari?"

"Yeah?"

"You're really pretty," he blurted out after a moment of silence, his cheeks turning a darker shade of red. He wasn't really sure what possessed him to blurt that out, it wasn't what he intended on saying, but now he felt completely embarrassed. He hated his brain sometimes. Why did it think that it was a good idea to randomly say things like that? Sure, they kissed before, but he was pretty sure that randomly saying things like that made him sound either creepy or like he was mentally challenged.

Akari's cheeks turned pink and she giggled, leaning onto him and resting her head on his shoulder, "Thank you." She wasn't really sure what to say, but she wasn't about to be one of those people who just ignored compliments or even rejected them. One of her male cousins ranted about that once, about how every girl he knew would argue with compliments, and it drove him insane.

"So, where do you want to eat?" Taiki asked her.

"I'm up for anything, as long as it's bad for you." He shot her an amused look. "I don't care what mom says."

Taiki laughed loudly. "You got it."

...

Akari insisted on taking a walk through the park before going home. Taiki originally wanted to get her home right away, but Akari found that pouting and batting her eyelashes worked fantastically well in getting anything that she wanted from him. She was pretty sure that using a bit of 'feminine charm' wasn't again the rules.

She felt so content, walking silently while holding Taiki's hand. There was no one else around, since the sky was getting darker with thick grey clouds, another reason Taiki insisted on trying to get her home.

"Taiki," Akari said, "Thank you. For getting me out of the house. For helping me with my homework, and just for visiting."

He grinned at her and said, "Any time." His grin faded as he felt a slight breeze pass over him. "We should get you home."

"I've been home all week," she insisted. "It's just a bit of wind."

"Well," he shrugged his own light jacket off and put it over her shoulders, "at least keep this on."

She was going to protest, but stopped when she realized that he wasn't going to budge on this. She moved her arms into the jacket properly and said, "Thank you."

"I don't want you getting sick again."

They walked in silence until Akari held out her free hand and asked, "Is it raining?"

"Huh?" he looked up at the sky, blinking as a raindrop hit his forehead. A second later, the dark clouds opened up and unleashed a storm.

Akari screamed with surprise as the cold water fell on them like a thick waterfall. She laughed and asked, "Where'd this come from?"

"Come on, we should get you home before you get sick again," Taiki said, though his own voice sounded highly amused as well.

She didn't let him pull her along, instead keeping her heels dug into the ground. "Don't worry so much Taiki."

He smiled at her. "You know your mother's going to murder me, right? And probably successfully hide the evidence."

Akari ignored that, and stepped close to him, moving her arms around his shoulders in a warm hug, resting her forehead on his collarbone.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm happy. I like the rain," she said, looking up at him with an amused, though indecisive glance. She bit her lip for a second, and he was about to ask her what was wrong, but before her could actually ask her, she leaned up and pressed her lips to his cheek, brushing the edge of his lips.

Taiki blushed brilliantly as she pulled back and said, "It's silly and cliched, but I've always wanted a kiss in the rain." She watched way too many romantic comedies and soap operas lately, but there was really nothing else to watch on daytime television.

He stared at her, his grey eyes staring into her amber ones, as if trying to read her. He quickly leaned down, pressing his lips against hers. Akari was slightly surprised, but kissed him back, pulling him close to her. They backed away from one another a few seconds later, just staring at one another before Taiki said, "The first one didn't actually count."

Akari laughed loudly and hugged him, feeling warm despite the cold rain as he hugged her back. "You are _such_ a sap."

He blushed and jokingly said, "Don't tell anyone, I have my rep to worry about."

She just laughed and said, "I knew there was a reason I liked you so much."

He didn't reply to that, instead he just hugged her tightly.

...

Akari didn't get the chance to visit Taiki until the following Wednesday. Instead of going home, she took the subway back into town from her school and walked the rest of the way, knowing that they usually had basketball games on Wednesday, so they wouldn't be in the DigiQuartz.

When she got there though, she found Tagiru, Yuu and their Digimon sulking.

"What's wrong?"

They both looked over at her and Yuu said, "Hey Akari-san. You looking for Taiki-san?"

"Yeah, I thought you guys usually had basketball games on Wednesday." She tilted her head at them with confusion.

"We usually do," Yuu answered.

Tagiru jumped in quickly and said, "But Taiki-san's been home sick all week. I'm surprised you didn't know that. Don't you have some kind of super Taiki-san radar or something?"

Akari stared at him for a moment before she started laughing. Taiki being sick wasn't funny, but the fact that out of all of his worrying about her getting sick the other night, when he was the one who ended up getting sick, was funny in a twisted way. She supposed that kissing her didn't help all that much either.

Oh how Tagiru would have teased the older boy mercilessly if he knew how he got sick.

She walked away from the two confused boys without another word, deciding that she owed Taiki an apology.

...

**Note**

Sorry that this one is MUCH shorter than the other one. I'm not trying to match each each individual one. Some will be longer, some will be shorter, but none will be below 1000 words, I can promise you that. This one is closer to 3000 and it'll probably be one of the shorter ones.

There seems to be a period of time when the mothers of young teenage girls feel the need to say 'pull up your shirt', even in public. Even if the shirt isn't showing anything.

I'm glad everyone liked the last one shot! I know there's not many Taiki/Akari fanfics around yet (wait until the English dub comes out, then there'll probably be loads of Mikey/whatever her name will be, that will pop up.), so if there's anything anyone was interested in seeing, don't be afraid to send a request and I'll see what I can do.

They DON'T have to be in order. Everything else does happen after that first one unless otherwise stated though.

**Skylights**


	3. Stars

******States of Existence**

**Stars**

"Manami! The fire!"

"You were the one that was supposed to be in charge of it!"

"I told you to watch it!"

"While I-"

An annoyed groan was the only response to the arguing adults, not that either one of them noticed it. On the other side of the dying flames, Taiki Kudou stared up at his parents with a disdained look. He wondered if they'd ever be able to do anything together without fighting anymore. This weekend camping trip was supposed to be fun, his father even paid for a really nice cabin up in the woods, but so far their aruging was making it almost miserable.

"Hey." He looked over, his steel-grey eyes meeting warm amber ones. "Don't let them get to you."

"I'm not. I'm not."

Leaning forward a bit, Akari Hinomoto narrowed her eyes at him before flicking his nose and saying, "Really? Why's your marshmallow on fire then?"

"Huh?" Taiki looked down at the stick that was in his hands, a blazing pile of burning goop on the end. "Shit!" He brought it away from the flames of the fire and blew it out, staring at the brown parts with dismay.

Akari's amused giggle blocked out the sound of his parents arguing in to him, much to his relief. She clapped a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle her giggles, but it was still obvious from the way her shoulders were shaking.

"Yeah, yeah, make fun of my poor marshmallow," he shook his head, staring at her with amusement.

"Oh, it's not that bad, don't be a baby Taiki," she scooted over closer to him on the log that they were sitting on reaching to his marshmallow and actually taking the burned part off without a problem. "There you go." Akari glanced at him for a split second before she swiped it from him, happily eating the sweet treat.

Taiki tried to scowl at her, he really did, but his smile broke through and all he could do was laugh at her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her so she was against his side. "Now I remember why I brought you. You're good for a laugh."

Akari pouted up at him and said, "Here I was thinking it's because I'm your girlfriend and you love me."

"Eh, I guess there's that too."

"Taiki!"

His head snapped around, looking up as his mother came over to them, looking flustered and angry. "We're both turning in. Try not to disturb your father on the couch when you come in later." She turned around again, heading back to the cabin.

"He got booted to the couch?" Akari asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't think they ever sleep in the same bed anymore anyway," Taiki admits with a shrug as he looks towards the darkening sky. "Huh, I'm not tired at all yet."

"Me neither," she agreed, stretching her arms over her head, a couple pops and cracks sounding from her back.

Taiki smiled as he stared at her, taking in her scarlet red hair, pale skin, and small figure with an affectionate look. He must have been staring, because the 16-year-old girl glanced over at him and tilted her head cutely as she asked, "What?"

"Nothing. Just...thanks for coming with me."

Akari giggled a bit and said, "Of course. I've always loved coming camping with you. It gets me away from my brothers and sister." A sly, playful smirk flittered across her face as shifted quickly, straddling his lap and facing him with her arms balancing over his shoulders. "Plus I get to spend time with you," she cooed.

Taiki put his hands on her hips and leaned his forehead against hers so that he was staring directly into her eyes. "Still, thank you. I just wish my parents weren't ruining this whole thing."

"Don't be so down, they haven't ruined anything. Besides, they argued so much that they didn't even realize we didn't have bathing suits when we came back from swimming last night." There was a sweet, innocent ring to her voice as she twisted a piece of his dark hair around her finger, but there was an underlying amusement in her voice that wasn't quite as innocent.

Taiki laughed at her and said, "Yeah. That was a good thing, wasn't it? Not that mom would have cared anyway. Why bring that up, wanna go back to the lake?"

"No, not this time," she patted his cheek gently and gave him a chaste, innocent kiss on the lips. "Maybe tomorrow." Akari leaned back a bit from him and said, "I'm not really sure what I want to do, to be honest."

Taiki thought about it for a moment looking around and staring up at the sky for a moment before his face brightened up. "I have an idea! But you gotta get up first!"

"Well if I have to," she said playfully, jumping up and staring up at him curiously as he stood in front of her. It never ceased to amaze Akari how much he had grown in the past couple years. "What do you have in mind?"

Taiki reached out, taking her hand into his and guided her back into the cabin, putting a finger to his lips as they quietly crept up the stairs and towards his room. She giggled a little bit, squeezing his hand and whispering, "Okay no, I said no to the lake, why would I say yes to a room when your parents were in the house?"

"Akari," Taiki whined quietly. "Give me a break, you know I get that. This is something else." He pulls her along with him into his room, and though she's been there the whole weekend, it's actually the first time she stepped inside of it.

It took her a moment to realize that it was much bigger than the room Mrs. Kudou was staying in. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly and she asked, "Why do you have the bigger room?"

"The past couple years we've come here, mom and dad have just taken the smaller rooms, but they tried to stay together in one of the smaller rooms this year to give you the other one. I guess they just got used to giving me this one."

"Oh! I could have taken the couch!" Akari said, eyes going wide with a bit of distress.

"Don't be stupid. I would have given you this room before that. Actually, mom originally suggested just letting you stay in here with me but dad flipped. You'd think that'd be the opposite, but yeah, I get the big room. We're not staying in here though." He let go of her hand as he grabbed something from the closet and pulled a blanket from on the bed.

Akari watched him curiously, a smile slowly spreading on her face. He seemed so content and happy, especially compared to earlier, and that was how she liked to see him. She smiled brightly at him as he took her hand again, leading her back through the house quietly and outside.

Going to the back of the cabin, Taiki once again let go of her hand and started tying something to one of the trees. She watched curiously, only understanding what he was doing a moment later when he stretched it out and went to the next tree. Clapping her hands together, Akari said, "A hammock."

"Yeah." Taiki tugged at the ropes to make sure they were okay before he climbed into it and motioned for her to come as well. "Bring the blanket."

Akari's cheeks turned red as she giggled and picked up the blanket, crawling in beside him and snuggling up to his side as he took the blanket from her and put it over both of them. They shifted around a bit, trying to get comfortable Taiki laying on his back with an arm around her, while she was resting with her head on his chest.

"It's so pretty out here," Akri said after a moment, scanning the sky above them. "You can even see the stars here."

"Yeah, there are way too many lights at home." Taiki looked down at her with an affectionate smile and pressed his lips to the crown of her head. "I'm really glad you came here with me, Akari."

She looked up at him smiling brightly. "I'm glad you asked me." She looked back up, her eyes going wide. "Look, it's almost like you can see Cutemon." She traced her finger through the stars above them, and he was so close that he could actually see what she was tracing.

Taiki chuckled a little and said, "Yeah, I see it. Bet you could find Shoutmon's head like in the Xros Wars insignia somewhere."

Akari giggled at that. "Don't tell him that, his ego might go through the roof."

"Might?" Taiki pointed at something else and said, "That's a real constellation there. See?" He took her hand and helped her trace the outline so that she could see. "It's Delphinius. The dolphin."

"You would know something like that," she teased, tilting her head and kissing his cheek before looking at the sky again. "Which other ones do you know?"

They settled in comfortably, snuggled up together on the hammock under the blankets, whispering and pointing out different constellations in the stars, just enjoying being together in the peace and quiet. Their whispers got fainter as the hammock swayed from the gentle breeze, and they slowly fell asleep under the night sky.

...

**Note**

Just a quick one to let you know I'm still alive! More to come, promise. I'm working on something else though too. You'll see eventually.

**Skylight Sparkle**


	4. Frozen

**States of Existence**

**Frozen**

The cold wind whipped past her face as Akari quickly made her way down the road. She would have been running to get inside as the snowfall started to increase, but she didn't want to drop any of the brightly coloured boxes in her arms. She had to crane her neck around them so that she could watch where she was going, the last thing she needed was to bump into someone else in this horrible weather. The storm came up on her so fast, when she left home, it was only lightly snowing with a slight breeze. By the time she realized how bad it was getting, it was better for her to keep going than to turn back.

A yellow hat covered the top of her head to keep her warm, along with a pair of matching gloves and a scarf. She shivered a bit, though her long, dark blue, button up jacket kept her warm, she still felt cold. She reasoned that it was probably because the leggings she wore under her dress weren't that thick.

Finally, she let out a sigh of relief as she approached Yuu's apartment building. He and Nene, who was home for Christmas, were hosting a party for their friends and the digimon. It would be the first time that all of them would be together since the battle with Quartzmon. As far as she knew, any digimon that wasn't overly huge (meaning Greymon wouldn't be attending) would be there, Cutemon was really excited for it. For her part, Akari was excited to get to hang out and talk with some of the other Hunters that she didn't get the chance to hang out with all that often.

Akari frowned a bit as she stared at the door, not sure how to open it without dropping any of her presents. She turned her back on it and backed her way in, careful to go slow so that she wouldn't hit anyone. Who knew how the people who lived in the expensive building would react to her backing into them? She never got her answer though, because her already wet boots came into contact with some slush that had yet to be cleaned up. With a small shriek, Akari ended up slipping backwards.

"Akari!" She felt a familiar person grab her just in time, helping her back up and making sure that she didn't drop any of the gifts in her arms. She blushed a bit, looking around at Taiki's amused but worried eyes.

"I'm okay. Thanks," she said, though still highly embarrassed.

Taiki frowned at her and brushed the show off of her shoulders and hat, taking in her soaked appearance. "You shouldn't have gone through the snow."

"It didn't start until I was almost here," she admitted, shivering. It was only then that she took in his appearance. He wasn't wearing his jacket or gloves, so she quickly concluded that he didn't come from outside. She tilted her head slightly and asked, "What are you doing down here?"

"Your mother called when she noticed the snow getting bad," he admitted. "If you weren't here in five minutes, I was going to go looking for you. Here, let me help you carry those." He took more than half of the boxes away from her before she could protest. "Come on, we'll get up there. Nene's got hot chocolate."

"That would be amazing," she said, moving closer to him as they waited for the elevator. She was so cold, and could feel the heat radiating off of him. She probably would have snuggled right into his side, but she didn't want to get him wet, plus both of their arms had boxes in them.

"Am I the last one here?" Akari asked as they walked into the elevator

Taiki hit the correct button and watched the door slide shut before he said, "No. Well, sort of. Nene, Yuu, Kiriha, Zenjirou, and Tagiru are all upstairs, but everyone else won't be coming because of the storm. It's only supposed to get worse too. We may be stuck here tonight."

"That goes onto the list of things my father would approve of," Akari joked.

Taiki chuckled and said, "Kiriha, Zenjirou and Tagiru are all trying to keep Nene's attention already. It's going to be a long night."

As much as Akari liked Nene, they were close friends after all, she couldn't help but be jealous of the older girl. Yes, Akari understood that Nene was two years older than she was, physically a bit older still because of how long she was in the Digital World, but that didn't stop her from being a bit bitter about the fact that she seemed so much prettier than Akari herself was. It wasn't that Akari was extremely self-conscious, it was just that Nene was so beautiful and mature, that she couldn't help but feel jealous at the thought of the older girl interacting with Taiki.

That was the crux of her problem, she didn't care if Zenjirou, Kiriha and Tagiru made fools of themselves, but Taiki was a different thing all together. She knew from past experience that Taiki didn't flirt with Nene, or was even remotely interested in her beyond friendship, but Akari was still a bit insecure. Nene was a supermodel, a superstar who could sing and act, over in Hong Kong, and Akari was just a 13-year-old who went to an all girl's school, could anyone blame her for being a bit iffy?

Akari looked up at Taiki and felt herself blush a bit. She had to remind herself that she did have something Nene didn't. She had Taiki, and they had been dating for a few months now, not that anyone else knew that. It wasn't that they were embarrassed about being together, they just didn't want anyone to make a big deal about it, plus they both agreed that there was something exciting about having a secret between them. That, and Tagiru would never leave Taiki alone about it. They were young and in their first relationship, no one could blame them for being a bit timid.

Still, she was a little jealous.

Taiki turned to her and said, "Akari?"

"Hmm?" She turned around and looked at him, blushing as he gave her a very quick peck on the lips, grinning slightly.

Akari giggled a bit, scooting closer to him. She was about to say something else when the elevator jerked roughly. She let out a scream as the boxes flew out of her hand and she pitched forward. Taiki fell just before she did, so she landed on his back. The elevator jerked again, the light flickering before going out, the emergency ones coming on a second later.

"The presents!" she cried out, pushing herself up off of Taiki.

"I think there's a bigger problem than that," he said as he sat up. Turning to her, worry filtered through his eyes and he asked, "Are you okay?"

She nodded and asked, "Are you?"

He didn't answer, looking around and saying, "It must be the storm."

"Lets hope," Akari said. "Could it be a digimon?"

Taiki frowned at that. "It's possible that there's a rogue digimon around, but I think that we would have noticed it earlier if there was something around. You have your Xros Loader, right? Mine's upstairs."

"Yeah," she nodded and reached into her pocket to pull out the orange device. She was about to hit a button, but hesitated. "There's no one in here yet."

"What?"

"Cutemon was doing something for his parents in the Digital World, and Dorulumon was helping. They said that Wisemon was going to transport them over later. Not for a while though."

"Well, lets hope it's not a digimon then, because we'd be sitting ducks here," Taiki said with a grimace as he picked up her presents, stacking them in a corner.

Just the thought alone freaked her out, and she wrapped her arms around herself. Taiki caught her frightened movement and moved in front of her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "I promise that everything will be okay. You know I'd never let anything hurt you."

She smiled at him, taking his hand in her own and saying, "I know."

...

Shoutmon knew that something was wrong before anyone else did. He was instantly on edge, his blue eyes darting around suspiciously. They landed on Taiki's coat, and he knew that the red Xros Loader was in there. That boy never seemed to be able to keep his hands on it lately.

"You don't need to be such a royal stiff, King," Gumdramon said, his odd way of being both polite and insulting to his mentor (and his ruler) at the same time not amusing Shoutmon at all at the moment.

Damemon, on the other hand, stared at the red dinosaur with confusion before asking, "What's wrong?"

"Something doesn't feel right," he muttered.

"Yeah, you're not having any fun," Gumdramon quipped.

"No, not like that," Shoutmon snapped at him, noticing that Gumdramon looked visibly startled that his mentor was so harsh with him. Before he could explain himself, the lights flickered and then went out.

"Is it a digimon?" Gumdramon asked quickly, his eyes widening eagerly at the thought of a hunt.

"Do you smell a digimon?" Damemon said.

"It's probably the storm," Sparrowmon agreed.

"Aren't there supposed to be emergency lights?" Nene asked from where she stood in the kitche, looking over at her brother.

"Yeah," he agreed with a nod, looking worried. "They should have turned on already."

"Does Mr. Satou still do the maintenance?" she asked her brother as she pulled out her phone, looking at it with a frown. "My signal's really weak."

"That's the snowstorm," Kiriha told her. "Ballistamon can power the heater if the power doesn't come back, right?" This question was shot at Zenjirou, who was sitting alongside his digimon.

Zenjirou looked over at Ballistamon, who nodded his head, and said, "For quite a while, yeah."

Shoutmon looked at the door and mumbled, "Where's Taiki?"

"He went down to the lobby to wait for Akari," Tagiru told him.

Shoutmon glared at him. "I know that. I meant he should be back with her by now."

"Well, if they're going up the stairs, they'll be a bit but..." Zenjirou trailed off, a sudden, horrible idea hitting him.

Everyone was still before Nene rapidly dialled a number. She waited for a moment before Taiki's coat started ringing.

Shoutmon shook his head with annoyance and said, "I am gluing his phone and Xros Loader to him. I swear it. Every time something happens, he loses those things. Try Akari's phone."

"She usually has it with her," Nene agreed. She waited for a moment, her face lighting up. "Akari! Where are you? What? Just a second, I'll put you on speaker." She pressed a button. "Okay. We're all here now."

"I put mine on speaker too," Akari said. "Taiki's with me and we're in the building."

"At least you're not outside," Yuu said. "When the power goes out, the doors lock. When you guys get up here, we can-"

"Sorry Yuu," Taiki interrupted. "Not gonna happen."

"Why not?" Tagiru blurted out.

"We're in the elevator," he explained. "It stopped between floors. This is because of the storm, right? Not a digimon?"

"No digimon," Shoutmon told him. "So don't worry about that."

They could hear Akari sigh in relief. "Good. I don't have any of my digimon with me yet."

Nene and Yuu, at the mention of them being stuck in the elevator, sent one another alarmed looks. She snatched up the phone and said, "Taiki, you need to listen. The elevator shaft isn't insulated like the rest of the building. The power will probably come back on in a few minutes, but if it doesn't, it's going to get cold."

There was silence before Taiki said, "We'll be okay. Don't worry. I'm sure the power will come on soon. We won't be able to talk to you for much longer, Akari's phone is dying, but she does have her Xros Loader with her."

"Do you remember which floor you guys were by?" Shoutmon asked.

"We were between thirteen and fourteen," Akari answered.

"I'm going to go down to fourteen then," he said. "Just in case something goes wrong."

"Okay, but stay out of sight," Taiki warned him. "We don't want some little old lady finding you."

"I'll bring your Xros Loader, just in case," Shoutmon said, picking up the red device and leaving without another word to anyone else.

"What do we do?" Tagiru asked.

"Have fun, don't worry. Try to get in touch with someone to see what's going on. We're going to hang up now so Akari can call her mother and let her know that she got inside," Taiki said.

"Alright, keep warm," Nene said, frowning as they hung up. "Yuu, call the power company. I'll call the maintenance man to see if he can get that going just to get them up to the next floor." She glanced at the three other boys. "It gets really cold in there. Old lady Yamashino complains about it on a daily basis. Or she did."

"Still does," Yuu agreed as he started looking for a number to call.

"They'll be okay though," Zenjirou pointed out. "It's Taiki and Akari."

...

Taiki glanced over at Akari. He was about to say something, but quickly realized something. He took a step towards her and said, "Take off your jacket. It's soaked and will only get you colder. Your hat, gloves and scarf too. Probably your leggings as well."

Akari's cheeks turned red as he basically suggested that she sort of strip. It was completely innocent, he was just worried about her health, but it was still a little bit embarrassing. She shivered and said,' But that'll be cold."

Taiki shook his head. "It'll be worse wearing wet clothes. I'll keep you warm." He reached forward, taking her had and scarf off before taking her hands into his and pulling off her gloves.

Oddly enough, she cold fingers did feel better. She took off her jacket, but then stared at him with red cheeks. "Umm...could you turn around?"

"Wh-oh!" Taiki spun around, facing away from her, his cheeks red. "Sorry."

She quickly moved to take off her leggings. While she questioned it at first, she could feel how soaked they were. Her jacket covered her shirt and skirt, but it wasn't made for a lot of snow and probably would have soaked through. Once they were off, she shoved her feet back inside the boots. "Okay."

Taiki turned around and eyed her. Letting out a sigh. He nodded his head and held out his arms to her. She took a step forward into his arms, closing her eyes as she rested her head against his shoulder, and wrapped her arms around his waist so there was little space between them. She instantly felt warmer, soaking in his body heat.

In his arms, Akari dialed her home phone. Taiki rubbed his hand up and down her back, trying to generate more heat. She held her phone up to her ear and waited for a moment. "Hi mom."

"Thank goodness! Are you okay, sweetie?"

"Yeah, I got to Yuu's okay. Taiki met me downstairs and told me that you called," she said, looking up at him with a soft smile on her face. She shivered slightly, and Taiki rested his chin on top of her head.

"The snow's really picking up," her mother said. "Normally, I wouldn't approve of boy-girl sleepovers, but I'd like you to stay at Yuu and Nene's house tonight. Now, I expect that there will be no funny business there."

"F-funny business?" Akari stuttered, her cheeks turning red. "Mom, I'm only 13! And it's not like I have a bo-"

"Akari," she mother chided. "I know you don't want a lot of people to know, but I'm your mother. Of course I know that you and Taiki started dating. Don't worry, I approve and I haven't told your father. You can do that in your own time. Now, I trust you both, and you're both still very young, but it's almost a mandatory thing that I need to say no funny business. I assume Taiki can hear this too, so you both understand?"

"Yes mom," Akari said.

At the same time, a flustered Taiki said, "Yes, Mrs. Hinomoto."

Akari heard beeping from her phone and quickly said, "My battery's dying. The cold must have zapped the last bit of it."

"I hate when that happens. That's okay, as long as I know you're safe. Call me later on Nene's house phone. Love ya."

"Love you too, mom," Akari said and hung up. She let out a sigh and tossed her phone onto her jacket, looking up at Taiki. "So...my mom knows."

Taiki chuckled and said, "It's okay. They were all going to find out eventually, right? And...uh...to be honest, I think my mom might know. Or at least suspect."

That startled Akari, and she stared up at him with wide eyes. "Why didn't you mention that?"

He shrugged. "She never actually said anything. She just gives me those silly grins anytime I bring you up. But she's kind of always been like that."

Akari nodded her head, moving so that her head was resting on his shoulder. "Why is it so cold in here?"

"There must not be any insulation at all," Taiki said, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. "If there's a hole anywhere, in the room, the cold air's going to come down on us."

The two of them stood for a while, time slowly ticking by. Akari closed her eyes as goosebumps rose up her pale legs, shivering and shaking. Akari almost wanted to cry, it was getting so cold. The power had yet to come on, and aside from the occasional knocking that came from half way up the door, no doubt from Shoutmon reminding them that he was there, there was no sound at all.

She was startled as he unzipped his hoodie and put it around her shoulders. "Taiki, no, I don't-"

He shot her a stern look. "No. You need it more than me." He sat down on the floor and pulled her with him, putting her in his lap. He rubbed her leg with his hand, trying to generate more heat. "You're so cold. Shoutmon!"

Though it was very faint, they could hear him say, "What's wrong?"

"Akari's freezing," he called out. "If the power doesn't come back on in 20 minutes, rip the door open! I'll pass Akari up to you, and then climb out. Well, I'll have to toss the presents up. We don't need them to know we did it."

"What's wrong?"

"Akari's freezing because the idiots here don't know how to make an elevator properly," Taiki said bitterly. He muttered to himself, "Seriously, for an expensive building this is pathetic."

"You got it," Shoutmon yelled back. "Just give me the word, and this door is gone."

Sitting in his lap, with his hand running up and down her leg, trying to warm her, Akari found herself feeling oddly content. Even if it was cold, there was something very comforting about the situation. She stared up at him, taking in his worried features. She hated seeing him in any form of distress, but that desire to see him happy seemed to almost double once they started dating.

Her eyes moved down to his lips thoughtfully. Though they'd been dating for a few months, they only exchanged small, sweet kisses in secret, preferring to hold hands and hug when no one could see them. There was something about curling up together to get warm that made her want to kiss him though, so that's exactly what she did.

Taiki let out a surprised sound at first, but then closed her eyes and kissed her back. He could feel his cheeks flushing and realized just how warm he felt in that moment.

Akari pulled back after a moment, and she stared up at him. Both of them could feel a bit of a chill coming back, and there wasn't much thought about their actions after that. Retrospectively, they would both think about how surprising that was, both of them always thought their actions when it came to their relationship.

Akari turned around so that she was facing him, and he pulled her close to him, kissing her in a way he never had before. His hands ran up and down her back while hers played with the hair at the base of his neck. They were completely lost in their exchange of affection that they didn't notice the the main lights replace the emergency lights, or the elevator starting to lift.

The door dinged, revealing Shoutmon. His blue eyes went wide, and he let out a loud cough. He didn't want to interrupt them, but he was pretty sure they'd be devastated if someone else caught them.

The reaction was almost instant. They jerked back away from one another, eyes wide as they looked around at Shoutmon. There was a tense moment where everyone just stared at one another, but as the door was about to close, Shoutmon stepped in. He took in the slight of Akari's jacket on the floor alongside her leggings and presents, and looked back at them. "Umm...don't you think you're a little young for that?"

Taiki was about to protest, saying that people their age did make out, a bit stunned that he could say he actually made out with his girlfriend, something he'd never done before, but then it occurred to him what it must have looked like, coming in.

Akari caught on too, her face going as red as his. "Shoutmon! We didn't...they were wet and I had to take them off. I swear! We're too young for that! By a lot!"

He shrugged. "Okay I get it. Trying to keep each other warm, huh? I didn't realize shoving your faces together was the best way to do that."

"Shoutmon!"

He laughed. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, but if you're still sitting like that when the elevator stops..."

Akari got off of him, quickly grabbing her outer clothes and holding them close to her. Taiki grabbed her presents, shoving the heavy ones into Shoutmon's hands. The air was tensely silent as they finally got up to Nene and Yuu's apartment.

Akari smiled slightly as they walked off the elevator and said, "Taiki?"

"Yeah?"

She leaned up, kissing him on the cheek. "Thank you for keeping me warm."

Taiki blushed and smiled down at her. "Anytime."

...

**Note**

This one was actually supposed to be the third upload but I lost it so that other quick one went up. This one takes place very early on in their relationship, the first Christmas, the last one takes place years later when they're 16/17.

Again, if anyone has any requests or suggestions. I'm open to them! I love writing!

On that note, I also write a lot of prompts on one of my roleplay accounts on tumblr. It's unxrossedheart and under 'tags' there's 'writing prompts'. A vast majority of them are Taiki/Akari, but involving dark versions of them (since that is what the account is for). You can check those out if you want more Taiki/Akari stuff.

See ya next time!

**Skylight Sparkle**


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